Start Date
10-12-2017 12:00 AM
Description
While the information systems literature highlights the business opportunities that digital innovation provides, the management literature foregrounds the challenges of path-dependent decision-makers face to exploit such potential. To bring these views together, we examine the impact of digital innovation on path-dependent decision-making. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment with 148 practitioners. Our study indicates that digital innovation has a negative impact on path-dependent decision-making, thus leading path-dependent decision-makers to deviate from their decision path. Furthermore, our results suggest that risk propensity and opportunity-threat perception mediate this relationship. Our study complements the literature on digital innovation with insights into the challenges of incumbents, adds to the literature on path dependence by shedding light on the behavior of path-dependent decision-makers in the face of digital innovation, and demonstrates how scholars can examine phenomena on digital innovation and path dependence with experiments.
Recommended Citation
Rauch, Madeleine; Wenzel, Matthias; and Wagner, Heinz-Theo, "The Impact of Digital Innovation on Path-Dependent Decision-Making: The Mediating Role of Risk Propensity and Opportunity-Threat Perception" (2017). ICIS 2017 Proceedings. 6.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2017/HumanBehavior/Presentations/6
The Impact of Digital Innovation on Path-Dependent Decision-Making: The Mediating Role of Risk Propensity and Opportunity-Threat Perception
While the information systems literature highlights the business opportunities that digital innovation provides, the management literature foregrounds the challenges of path-dependent decision-makers face to exploit such potential. To bring these views together, we examine the impact of digital innovation on path-dependent decision-making. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment with 148 practitioners. Our study indicates that digital innovation has a negative impact on path-dependent decision-making, thus leading path-dependent decision-makers to deviate from their decision path. Furthermore, our results suggest that risk propensity and opportunity-threat perception mediate this relationship. Our study complements the literature on digital innovation with insights into the challenges of incumbents, adds to the literature on path dependence by shedding light on the behavior of path-dependent decision-makers in the face of digital innovation, and demonstrates how scholars can examine phenomena on digital innovation and path dependence with experiments.